Siphon-valve for flush-tanks.



- T. 1 McCAFFREY SIPHON VALVE FOR FLUSH TANKS. APPYLICATION FILED 38.20. |911.- 1,258,232. I Patented Mar. 5, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

gm'ventoz THOMGS J M CH FFREY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS J. MOCAFFREY, OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR E ONE-HALF 'ro GEORGE 11. many, 0}? SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, AND ONE-SIXTEENTH 'ro ALFRED E. REED, OF SAN ERANCISCO, cAmFqnNm.

To all whom i mag concern:

Be'it known that I, THOMAS J. McCar- FREY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Spokane, in the county of Spokane and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful'lmprovements in Siphon-Valves for Flush-Tanks, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to flush valves and more particularly to valves which include a siphon.

The general object of this invention is to pro ide very simple and easily operated means for starting the siphoning action and a further object is to provide a starting valve so constructedthat only a slight action of the valve is necessary in order to start the siphon but in which the valve will move to aposition where it will'not obstruct the passa e of water through the siphon.

A furt er object of the invention is the provision of a valve and siphon combined so constructed that it may be placed as a unit.

within the flush tank and very easily enga ed therewith or disengaged therefrom.

6ther objects will appear in the course of the following descri tion.

My invention is il ustrate'd in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional View through a flush tank and through the combined valve-and siphon-;. FFig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of fieferring to these drawings it will be" seen I that my im roved valve-comprisesa cylindrical eham r .10 open at its lower end and having a siphon leg- 11 extending from its upper end at one side.- One w'allof-this siphon is formed bythe extension 12 of 'the side wall 13 of the-chamber 10. 'In other words, the

the. siphon is pipe which forms Wall of the preferably mtegral. with the chamber 10.- The siphon extends down .be.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 20, 1917. Serial No. 149,856.

i 1- Eig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of a tank, with a modified-form of" Patented Mar. 5, 1918.

low the lower end of the chamber 10 in the form of a pipe 14 and has mounted upon it the collar 15 and below this collar is exteriorly screw-threaded for engagement with a collar 16. These collars 15 and 16 form clamping collars which engage the bottom of the flush tank between them.

Disposed through the top of the chamber 10 is a pull rod 17which at its upper end is connected to a chain pull 18 'or any other suitable appliance whereby the rod may be lifted. The lower end of the pull rod carries upon it a spider formed of radiating arms 19 and resting upon this spider is the lifter 20. This lifter consists of a disk of leather or other suitable material and loosely surrounds the pull rod 17 so that it may be easily shifted thereon. Normally this disk 20 rests upon the radiating arms and is supported thereby so that when the rod is lifted the disk 20 will be lifted with it. When the rod 17 falls, however, if there.

is any obstruction to the downward 'movement of the lifter 20 -dl1e to the upward movement of water within the chamber 10, then the lifter will remain in the upper portion of the chamber. I

The operation of this invention is as follows: Normally the tank 21 within which the lifter is disposed is filled with water to the upper end' of the siphon legs, that is just below the upper end of the partition 12 separating the two legs. The lifter is normally in the posit-ion shown and if the rod 17 is pulled upward the lifter '20 will lift the water which is ab thus forcing the water from" the leg 11 of the siphon int-o theopposite. leg and starting thesiphon action. The water in the tank will promptly rush into the lower end 0f the chamber 10 and the inrlish of water will carry the lifter 20 up so that it will.

the tank is emptied, then the lifter 20 will drop and rest again upon the arm 19.-

In the operation of this device, just as soon as the water starts to flow over the partitlon in the siphon, the force of the water will-raise the lifter plate or disk 20 and ove the lifter: upward,

will hold it up against the top of the chamber 10'but permitting the lifting rod 17 to drop back 1nto its proper place. be noticed that the entire va ve is immersed in water with the exception of the top of the siphon proper. With this construction when the water is'flojw'ing into the tank it w' .1 force all of the v .,a i .r out of the siphon up to the highest 'w'aterlevel. This makes t absolutely cellllilllrthitt the siphon will operate every time the chain 18 is pulled.

It will also be noticed that with this construction the combined siphon and valve is very readily put in place by simply inserting the lower end of the pipe 14 through the opening in the bottom of the tank, until the collar'15 rests upon the bottom of thetank and then screwing on the collar 16 and screwing this collar-up tightly against the Intliis form of the invention t ere is rovided a chamber 22, which is the equiva ent of the chamber .'10, heretofore described, which chamber 22 is open at its lower end and has a siphon 23 extending from its upper end. The inner or shorter leg 24 of this siphon is not oifsetkfrom the chamber 22, as

it is-in Fig. 1, but theinnerwall of theleg '24 is approximately in thesame 1 lane as the .corres ondingwall of the cham er-22, thus provi ing) for a'frer flow of the water from the cham Disposed within the chamber 22 is a litter 25 which has an area approximately the same as the cross sectional area of the chainber 22. As illustrated, this chamber 22 is rectangular in'cross section and the lifter late 25 is also rectangular in cross section;

upporting the has 25 and extending loosely through it is the: stem .or "ro;d 5-26.; 'which extends upward through. the ,u"per v 1 endof, the chamber 22 and is connected y a chain 27 to the ordinary means for flushing the clbset.

That portion of the lifter plate bibw the le 24 is cut away as at 28, and hinged tothe li ter plate 25 is a small flap valve 29, which is disposed upon the upper face of the lifter 25, and is slightl "longer. than the opening 28' so that when t is auxiliary. valve29 is in a horizontal position, it will rest at its ends i upon the margins of the opening 28, as shown mostclearl in Fig. 4. Now'when the lifter 25 is-raised, it will act precisely in the same manner as the lifter 20 hereto-- It is to er 22 into the leg 24. of the siphon.

fore described and raise the water above the lifter with it so as to start the siphoning action. drawn to the upper end of the chamber 22, however, and the siphon is started, then the upward movement of the water will lift the flap valve 29 to the position shown in Fig. 3, and the water will siphon out through the siphon in the same manner as heretofore described, untilgthe tank is emptied, whereupon the auxiliary valve '29 will again close. This construction permits the lifter rod 26, after ,it has been raised and the siphoning action started, to be dropped to its original position and the uprush of the water will old up the lifter 25 and keep the auxiliary valve 29 raised until the contents of the tank. have been siphoned away. I have illustrated in Fig. 1 a'cylindrical chamber 10 and in Fig. 3 I have illustrated a rectangular chamber 22 and it is to be understood that I do not wish to be limited to any particular form for the chambers 10 or22.

In Fig. 3, I show the valve in connection with a closet bowl and trap and in connection with the usual water controlling valve disposed in the flush tank and controlled by afloat. The pipe A leading from the leg 14 of the siphon extends downward to the bowl B having the usual closet trap C. The valve for adm1tting water to the flush tank is desi ated D and this valve is controlled by-a fl o at rod E having the float F thereon. Now

when the chain 27 is pulled, the water in the tank 21 will pass out through the siphon and be discharged into the bowl B and the water running through the closet siphons the water from the closet trap C. It is therefore necessary to replenish this water in the closet trap and to this end a pipe 'G is connected to the valve casing D and extends up and opens into the upper end of my improved siphon, preferably at the upper end of the long leg of this siphon. vWhen the tank 21 isempty the float F drops down and opens the water supply valve allowing water to "run through the flush tube or pipe'G,"-while :thetank is filling this water passing through the pipe G flowing downward through t e long leg '-o -thesiphon and thusfilli'ng the. closet trap with water. ,}Thus by the time the tank 21 is'filled, .the closet tank'is-also' filled. While I have illustrated what I believe to be pne of the bestforms of my invention, I

do not wish to be limited to'the details of construction asit is obvious that these may be varied in many details without departirs from the spirit and scope of the append claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

- 1. Aflushing siphon having an inlet leg As soon as the lifter 25 has been anda chamber operatively connected to the V inlet leg of the siphon, the inner wall of the inlet legextending'helow the top of the ing its inlet le connected to the upper end Y measles upward independent of the stem for the entire length of said'chamber, to thereby as the lower end-of the inner wall of the mlet le the stem having inde endent movement ownward relative to t e lifter plate and havin a stop on its lower end upon which the ifter late normally rests.

2. As an artic e of manufacture, a siphon valve comprising a, body open at its lower end and forming a chamber, a siphon havof the body an having its outlet leg extended down below the body, a stem passing through the upper end of thechamber, a

lifter plate loosely mounted upon the stem and having free movement thereon f orthe entire length of the stem, said stem havin a stop at its lower end' supporting the li r plate when the latter is m itslowored position, the lifter plate having'an'openin disposed 'in a proximate alinement'witi the inlet leg 0 the siphon, and an auxiliary valve normally resting upon the upper face of ,the lifter plate,'closing by pressure from above, but opening by pressure from'below and adapted to permit the passage. of water into the inlet leg of the siphon-when thelifter has been raised to its full extent.

In twtimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in til: resence of two witnesses.

T Witnesses:

Davm Human, H. J. Gaovaa. 

